{"id":112284,"date":"2013-10-30T12:49:19","date_gmt":"2013-10-30T07:19:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=112284"},"modified":"2013-11-05T08:34:36","modified_gmt":"2013-11-05T03:04:36","slug":"callum-macrae-wakes-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/callum-macrae-wakes-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Callum Macrae Wakes Up\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Malinda Seneviratne<\/a><\/span>\u00a0–<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Malinda Seneviratne<\/p><\/div>\n

Meanwhile In A Parallel Universe Called Humility<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am Callum Macrae<\/a><\/span>.\u00a0 I am an award-winning film maker, writer and journalist.\u00a0 The \u2018journalist\u2019 part is important because it allows me to fictionalize the truth and paint fiction as fact.\u00a0 If you want me to explain, consider \u2018Sri Lanka\u2019s Killing Fields\u2019.\u00a0 That should do.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t sleep much because the horrors of the world keep me awake.\u00a0 The downside of this is that I can\u2019t be woken up; no, not because I am awake, but when I pretend to sleep I cannot be woken up.\u00a0 But I do take a nap, now and then, like a little while ago.\u00a0 Now I am fresh and wide-awake.\u00a0 So I can be fresh and frank.<\/p>\n

I was really angry that the Commonwealth decided to let Sri Lanka host CHOGM<\/a><\/span> 2013.\u00a0 I am angry that Kamalesh Sharma doesn\u2019t show any interest in returning my calls.\u00a0 I said that allowing CHOGM to go ahead helps Mahinda Rajapaksa, who I said is suspected of being a war criminal.\u00a0 I even said that the UN also suspects him of being a war criminal.\u00a0 I finally said that could lead to the breakup of the Commonwealth.<\/p>\n

Well, here\u2019s the truth.\u00a0 I am a film-maker who has acquired some journalistic credentials.\u00a0 Now if someone expects me to abide by the basic ethics of journalism, that\u2019s too much to ask.\u00a0 Corroboration, verification of claims, reliability of sources and such are not things I concern myself with.\u00a0 For me, it is all about \u2018splash\u2019, which is the only way that a non-journalist can make a turn nonentity to name.<\/p>\n

My work on Sri Lanka for Channel 4 would show any impartial AND well-informed viewer that short-cut, innuendo, clever editing and non-disclosure of important facts are the main ingredients in the stories I cook up.\u00a0 I\u2019ve used LTTE and pro-LTTE sources and treated their \u2018information\u2019 as fact that requires no cross-checking.\u00a0 I\u2019ve glorified directly and through association the worst terrorists the world has ever known.\u00a0 Sure, I indulge in occasional tokenism by inserting into script a censure-line on the LTTE, but that shouldn\u2019t fool anyone.\u00a0 It is like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch with their sporadic barbs directed at the USA; just gives \u2018balance\u2019 to make slant sound \u2018investigative\u2019 and \u2018exhaustive\u2019.<\/p>\n

Now if CHOGM should not be held in Sri Lanka because some people suspect Mahinda Rajapaksa of being a war criminal, as I pointed out to the Commonwealth Secretariat recently, someone can ask me if I\u2019m suffering from selective amnesia.\u00a0 Yes, sadly, I am.\u00a0 But I am wide awake now.\u00a0 Commonwealth Heads of Government have met in countries with proven (not suspected) track-records of genocide and multiple crimes against humanity, war criminals all.\u00a0 Heck, if we are talking Commonwealth here, the entire narrative is predicated on genocide, plunder, culture-erasure and other horrible things.<\/p>\n

The official head of the Commonwealth is Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth.\u00a0 Not too long ago, the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister no less, acknowledged that the invasion of Iraq was illegal.\u00a0 Britain has been party to war crimes in Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan.\u00a0 By tagging itself like a colony to the United States of America, Britain has made a case for expulsion from the Commonwealth.<\/p>\n

Canada has hosted CHOGM.\u00a0 Australia too.\u00a0 The crimes against humanity perpetrated by governments in these country with respect to how they treat the first nations are well documented.<\/p>\n

I think I should not ask why Sharma doesn\u2019t speak to me, I should ask the logic of their being a job such as the one that Sharma has.\u00a0 Maybe it should be turned into a brand name such as Channel 4, where truth and falsehood obtain weight and worth as per label attached and for reasons of political expediency.<\/p>\n

All this is giving me a headache.\u00a0 Right now I am wide awake and I just realized that I am shooting myself in the foot.\u00a0 Better get back to pretend-sleep. Don\u2019t try to wake me up, for that would be a futile exercise.<\/p>\n

Ta-ta.<\/p>\n

*Malinda Seneviratne is the Chief Editor of \u2018The Nation\u2019\u00a0and his articles can be found at\u00a0www.malindawords.blogspot.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":94900,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8,6968],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-112284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-editorial","category-popular-columns"],"yoast_head":"\nCallum Macrae Wakes Up\u2026 - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/callum-macrae-wakes-up\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Callum Macrae Wakes Up\u2026 - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/callum-macrae-wakes-up\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-10-30T07:19:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-11-05T03:04:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Callum-Macrae.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"203\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"203\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/callum-macrae-wakes-up\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/callum-macrae-wakes-up\/\",\"name\":\"Callum Macrae Wakes Up\u2026 - 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